Location and description

The ring fort is located on the right bank of the Orz river, on the edge of a small hill. This was originally a wetland, which determined the defensive qualities of the location. Today, the southern part of the ring fort adjoins a destroyed park which formerly belonged to the manor, and wetlands have been preserved on the western side.

The ring fort has the shape of a circle, surrounded by a single ring of ramparts. The outer side of the rampart is up to 3.5 m high. The remains of a moat have been preserved on the northern and north-western side. A maidan, which is the inner part of the ring fort, is 80 m in diameter. The rampart was interrupted at two points in connection with agricultural work carried out there still in the 1970s. The crown of the rampart was damaged when planting fruit trees on it. Currently, the rampart is still overgrown with trees, whereas the maidan was set aside.

History

The ring fort dates back to the 10th/11th - 12th century.

Condition and results of archaeological research

The ring fort was discovered in 1924. In 1965, Irena Górska carried out surveys there. In 1981, the ring fort was registered during the surface surveys carried out within the framework of the “Archaeological Picture of Poland” project.

Trail excavations took place at the site of the western gap in the rampart. It has been found that the base of the rampart was about 10 m wide. According to the researcher, traces of wood decay which cover the full height of the rampart prove that the rampart was built in a sandwich construction (thick wooden beams were arranged in layers, alternately longitudinally and transversely to the line of the rampart). An investigation of the foot of the rampart, on the inside, revealed burned pieces of wood and large quantities of pugging. There were the remains of fortifications that slipped down the slope of the rampart after a fire. An investigation of the outer side uncovered one posthole interpreted by Irena Górska as the remains of the firewall placed in front of the rampart.

The ring fort in situated on land owned by the commune; it is located on the northern edge of the 19th-century park which formerly belonged to a manor in Grodzisk Duży and which was entered in the register of monuments.

Compiled by Agnieszka Oniszczuk, National Heritage Board of Poland, 26.09.2014 r.

Bibliography

Górska I., Sprawozdanie z badań sondażowych w Grodzisku, pow. Ostrołęka, i Różanie, pow. Maków Mazowiecki, w 1965 roku, „Sprawozdania Archeologiczne”, XIX, 1968, pp. 182-183.

Górska I., Grodzisk, gmina Czerwin (d. pow. Ostrołęka), woj. ostrołęckie, [in:] Grodziska Mazowsza i Podlasia ( w granicach dawnego województwa warszawskiego), collective work, Wrocław -Warszawa -Kraków -Gdańsk 1976, pp. 56-57.